This girl has no desire to get back on the treadmill before she has to.

So I lied yesterday.

Still went to the elliptical for 25 minutes last night. But I didn’t run this morning and opted for more elliptical and cross training in the form of Jillian Michaels dvds. For a girl who enjoys her title of “cardio queen”, you know there’s a little bit of resentment there.

But there’s a slight ache. And there’s no need to push myself right now. Less stress on the legs now means better results in the long run. No pun intended.

A few days of “low key” won’t kill me. I’m just bitter. And overly dramatic. I realize this. Thanks for not minding too much.

Because really… the last thing I want is to almost possibly fly off the treadmill again. Whether it be from passing out or my leg falling off.

There really isn’t anything major to report in my corner of the world, so it’s time to catch you up with all the things running through the mind of Amy B.(Source)

Oh you’ve been running through my mind, too, babe. Don’t you worry.

1. I’ve recently realized my true fear of sitting in traffic under an overpass. This happens almost every single day. And every single day I sit and think about how I really really hope the overpass doesn’t collapse because I really don’t want to die.

It happens, people! Do not call me irrational.

That's totally brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes sauteed in General Tso sauce. It worked weirdly well together.

2. I’m reading a new book. My friend Mary gave me The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo for Christmas. She absolutely loved it and said I really need to jump on the bandwagon. Even if I am, like, a decade late or whatever. However, it’s great timing- there is a 60-cent fine on my account at the library and they won’t let me check out any more books until it’s paid off. 60 cents is truly ruining me- the hours for the branch by my house are horrible and you can’t pay it off online. Wtf?

3. I signed up for a half marathon!

In all reality, I was planning on doing the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon again. After a not-so-fantastic time during last year’s race, I really wanted to go back and kick it in the butt on April 15th. However, race fees went up before the decision was finalized, traveling to Missouri 2 weeks in a row seemed daunting, and the travel/lodging costs seemed a little impractical when there was a perfectly good half marathon just a short train ride away from my house.

We’re starting off the year with an attempt to be financially responsible. Yay!

Still steaming! More Bertolli frozen soup from the giveaway I won. My roommate and I are killing this stuff. I'll be sad when it's all gone. :(

4. This race is two weeks earlier than the other one. This means training starts… um… subtract 4, add 7, then carry the 1… Monday. Oh dear.

I need to take a few deep breaths before panic mode takes over.

Ok… we’re good.

Those silly brussels sneak into anything and everything...

5. Soup and salad for the win! (Duh- if you haven’t already noticed the pictures.) The whole “watch what I shove into my face after the holidays” thing is going decently well. I already feel better than last week. As good as those Christmas treats are, it’s nice to get everything (digestive organs included) back on track.

Now if only I could get my pretzel and peanut butter issues under control…

6. Speaking of Christmas, my tree is still up. For a girl who doesn’t get super into holidays, I’m having a hard time letting go.

That or I’m just super lazy about it. One year in college, our tree didn’t come down until April. April. The ornaments came off the week before Valentine’s Day- so after that we just called it “greenery” being used to spruce up (no pun intended) the place. True story.

Stopped by Whole Foods earlier this week when my friend was still here. Got coffee on a super sale. The food bar? Not so much.

7. Yesterday I had to go to Target. A mental list was in my head all week long and I thought “I won’t forget this”. Yesterday afternoon before leaving work, not one thing on that list that could be recalled. Luckily, with help from my messenger convo with Mon, I at least remembered to pick up toilet paper.

Whew. Disaster averted.

8. I will never attract a lover at the gym. Why? Because I’m either rolling out of bed at 5:30 in the morning (no explanation necessary) or going after work with imprints on my legs where my knee high argyle socks were (hello signature style at it’s finest) and glowing like a ghost. I could use a spray tan. Or a beach vacation. Either/or.

The roomie had a lil’ spark of motivation and decided to try out the whole early morning gym routine with me this week. What? You really are asking to get up super early to trudge to the gym with me to work out when sleeping in is one of your favorite things?

Especially when everything I’ve been eating as of late is horrifically unoriginal.Oh hey there book that really wasn’t that interesting and baked mac and cheese from a couple of weeks ago! On the advice of many of you, instead of overdosing on it last week (I was very close to literally turning into a noodle), the remainders were frozen. But since I’m not feeling overly creative in the kitchen, and quite lazy if we’re going to be honest about it, it’s getting broken out earlier than anticipated.

Although I did bother to turn on the oven and roast those vegetables. So that’s something.

That’s also the reason I’ll publicly apologize to my coworkers for warming up the brussels sprouts in the break room yesterday. Sorry dudes. I know they smell weird.

Oh and some peeps were asking about our little stuffed giraffe under the tree:That would be Adler. He came to us on the day it was over 100 degrees outside, our power went off, our food all went bad due to said power outage, my birthday plans were then up in the air, our basement flooded due to ridiculous rain, and the roomie was having a less than desirable day at work. As I was picking up a massive cooler at Target to salvage what food was left, Adler caught my eye. He’s now a part of the family. Along with the Woolly Mammoth, “Woolly” (duh).

And now that we’ve adequately explained yet another “crazy” about me, let us carry on with out day…

So far it hasn’t been that much of an issue. Granted, I’m usually not at 100% mental capacity until maybe 30 minutes or so after waking up. And by that point, I’m either mid-run or mid-ellip (I guess?), so there’s no turning back. Pure trickery. Muahahahaha.

Plus, the nice thing is, since I’m getting home later, I can collapse onto the couch with no hesitation.

Or, in last night’s case, other things get done…Like get into the holiday spirit!

Or at least pretend. Still not there yet. But the roomie and I both happened to have free time. Seemed like the efficient thing to do.

My lovely friend Annie got this tree for me a few years back. She said she knew I’d never get one on my own like I kept saying I would, so she just bought it for me.

Annie was totally right. I kept saying I’d get a nice tree on sale after Christmas, but I’m cheap as bleep and would have had a hard time parting with cash for something that wasn’t happening for another year anyway.

Her thoughtfulness is always much appreciated at this time of year.

Hilariously enough, we did not play holiday music while trimming the tree. Nor did we watch a Christmas movie.

And then Monday rears its ugly head and forces me off my butt to once again become a productive member of society.

Probably a good thing. At least I know the set agenda by heart.

First thing is first- waking up.

Check. Yay me!

Second on the list- reintroduce things that aren’t fried or found in a candy bowl back into my diet. Oh and possibly apologize to my friend Mary for my and Laura’s ability to completely take down her leftover Halloween stash during our stay…Green is the color of the day. And week, if we’re lucky. Brussels sprouts may also be my vegetable of the week. I’m very streaky with food phases. They usually last about a week or two at a time. So I probably should have bought two bags of them at the grocery store instead of just one. (Good bye sweet potatoes and beta carotene, hello brussels and vitamin C!)

I also opted for tea in the afternoon instead of coffee or Diet Coke (a favorite as of late- whoopsies). Our office has really stepped it up with the tea selection, so I went for Tazo “Awake” black tea.Did it do the job?

The magic 8 ball says “it’s decidedly so”.

Which sounds about right.

Even with a few days off to run rampant travel, the next step on my list, the workout, went swimmingly.

Or runningly? A 3-mile run and 20 minutes on the elliptical. It’s like the weekend was sweating out of my body.

It probably grossed out everyone around me. *Hanging head in shame.”

All in all, the day was a healthy start to the rest of my week. Quite similar to many Mondays before it.

If only I wouldn’t tend to expel so much activity into my weekends and have more days like this “just because”.

Enjoying daylight savings? I’m not. My internal clock is all up in a tizzy.

However, I did find out TBS plays Saved by the Bell SUPER early on Sunday mornings. So there’s a win.

Another win? Finishing the Hot Chocolate 15k with a new PR!

Obviously, that makes me feel like this:Yay!

There were doubts. Because even after listing out all the things I knew to do better from last year’s disasterous run, there’s a pretty good chance I did not learn anything.

For example, there was only one long run done outside. And none in the colder(ish) weather. My bad…

That was ok, though. Going into the race, I really just wanted to have a good run with my friend. And it was a gorgeous day to do it:Not a cloud in the sky. And even though it was low to mid-40’s, the sun made the temps feel so much better.

Already better than last year.

What also made the race better? The bigger race course- it was ALL on the streets (unlike the narrow lake path last year). I only felt a little claustrophobic from race congestion for the first mile or two. As did the two girls who collided and ate serious asphalt around the second turn. It was a cringeworthy fall to watch.

My friend and I stayed together and kept a pretty good pace up until entering the 5th mile. That’s where he started to slow down and shooed me along. Little did he know, I was feeling the fatigue, too, but slowly crept ahead anyway.

The 6th mile is where I hit a major wall. The entire mile SUCKED. I wanted to walk. I was tired. My body was starting to ache.

It cannot be stressed enough- the 6th mile was AWFUL.

My stride came back in the 7th. My legs knew the end was near and picked up the pace to get this business over with.

From there on out, it was a breeze.

Wait, I take that back.

What genius makes the last .3 uphill?

And what genius lined that stretch with event photographers? There were 3. And I imagine those 3 pictures will look like this:

1. A pained expression because the hill started. Not realizing a picture of me is being taken.

2. An annoyed expression because the hill sucks and I cannot believe they are documenting this hot mess.

3. Me laughing at the ridiculousness of what is going down. This may also look like slight delusion.

Final stats:

1:19:08.
8:30 pace.
1133/9067 out of the females.
311/2324 out of my division.
2860/13430 overall.

Oh, and about a pound of chocolate was consumed after…Yes, I do run for chocolate.

Once again, I traded the apple and banana slices for extra pretzel rods. Fruit should not be allowed anywhere near my plate…

In summary, this race ended up being way better than my experience last year. The course was better, there was better overall organization, and I was much more prepared.

Oh happy day…Enjoy your Sunday! I shall be lounging. And after looking at the race pictures, I think I’ll also be repainting my nails. Word.

and over…and over again…Well… at least brussels sprouts are good for you. And I added something new- it has been quite some time since an asparagus wrap has graced my plate. So that’s not SO monotonous… right?

Moving on… more old habits:

Letting my competitive side get the best of me. The male friend of mine and I are in our third week of a little mileage challenge. He won the first week. I won the second week. And if you think I’m going to let him win again anytime soon, you’re just as crazy as I am. After last night’s 6.5-mile run (I even pushed it with a sub-8:20 pace!), I’m currently at 8 for the week. He’s at 5. Bring it.

And finally, letting my frugal ways beat out common sense. I used to get my hair dyed on the regular in college (how did I afford that???). Then I did it once on my own a few years ago because surely it’s not that difficult…

Yeah. I looked emo for a few weeks. Oops.

The blackish/dark brown combo finally grew/faded out and I’ve pretty much let it go to my natural color ever since. I swore to never attempt it on my own again. NEVER!

Well. I was bored with it. My color seemed flat. And desperate times call for desperate measures.

Jaime, a friend/coworker/former stylist, convinced me it was possible to succeed at the do-it-yourself. So after her taking me to a professional beauty supply store, walking me through the steps, then walking me through them again, I’ve attempted the impossible. She believed in me. I could do this.Crossing my fingers and praying the entire time…

You’ll see pics eventually. It’s not expected to be a drastic change either way (more just getting rid of the highlights I acquired in the summa’ sun), and there’s something about not washing my hair for at least 48 hours that has me not feeling sexy enough to be postin’ pics all up on the interwebz.